Home/Articles/The Other Side of Addiction: What it’s Like to Live on Methadone

The Other Side of Addiction: What it’s Like to Live on Methadone

If there was ever an accurate depiction of “the monkey on your back” it’s living with opiate addiction. What starts out as a mild and mellow “ride” soon turns into a harrowing, day-to-day emotional struggle over time.

After so many months or years of opiate abuse, the brain and body reach a point where overcoming addiction requires an aggressive form of treatment such as methadone can provide. In effect, life on methadone enables recovering addicts to break free of opiate addiction and live a normal, healthy life.

Life Without Methadone: Opiate Addiction’s Aftereffects

Stopping opiate use may well be the easiest part of the recovery process compared to the aftereffects that opiate addiction leaves behind. According to Brain – A Journal of Neurology, chronic opiate abuse leaves the brain in a debilitated state in terms of its ability to regulate the body’s systems.

More often than not, people coming off long-term opiate addictions experience residual withdrawal effects that persist for months or even years into the recovery process. These effects include:

Methadone will help you feel healthy and normal again.

Severe and persistent drug cravings

Severe depression

Ongoing fatigue

Insomnia

Mental confusion

Under these conditions, the likelihood of maintaining abstinence for any length of time is slim.

Life With Methadone

As a treatment drug, methadone is specifically made to treat the damage left behind by chronic opiate abuse. In effect, methadone supports damaged brain functions and provides considerable relief in the process.

Reduced Cravings

While drug cravings may “feel” physical, they actually originate in the brain’s thinking and emotion-based centers, according to the National Safety Council. These areas of the brain create the constant thoughts about getting “high” and the ongoing urges to use opiates.

Methadone interacts with the same areas of the brain as addictive opiates, and in turn help restore a normal chemical balance. As a result, life on methadone means you’ll experience little if any drug cravings.

Emotional Stability

Ongoing feelings of depression and anxiety only work to aggravate drug cravings and make it that much more difficult to abstain from drug use. Methadone’s ability to restore a normal chemical balance means the neurotransmitter chemicals involved in regulating emotions also return to normal.

These effects can go a long way towards helping you maintain continued abstinence on a long-term basis.

Feeling Normal Again

The feelings of fatigue commonly experienced in recovery coupled with not being able to get a good night’s sleep for days on end can all but destroy your ability to stay drug-free. In effect, the aftereffects of opiate addiction all work together, creating a vicious cycle of uncomfortable symptoms that make it all but impossible to stop abusing opiates.

Mental Clarity

Without methadone, the damage left behind by opiate abuse makes it difficult to think clearly, let alone concentrate on the task at hand. These conditions make it that much harder to carry out the affairs of everyday life, such as holding down a job or running a household.

Methadone’s effects enable a person to think clearly so he or she can fulfill daily responsibilities without considerable strain and effort.

Overall, life on methadone really feels like the other side of addiction in terms of the renewed sense of health and well-being experienced. If you’re considering methadone treatment and need help finding a treatment program, call our helpline at 800-891-9360(Who Answers?) to speak with one of our addiction counselors.

How Our Helpline Works

For those seeking addiction treatment for themselves or a loved one, the MethadoneClinic.com helpline is a private and convenient solution.

Calls to any general helpline (non-facility specific 1-8XX numbers) for your visit will be answered by American Addiction Centers (AAC).

We are standing by 24/7 to discuss your treatment options. Our representatives work solely for AAC and will discuss whether an AAC facility may be an option for you. Our helpline is offered at no cost to you and with no obligation to enter into treatment. Neither MethadoneClinic.com nor AAC receives any commission or other fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a visitor may ultimately choose.

For more information on AAC’s commitment to ethical marketing and treatment practices, or to learn more about how to select a treatment provider, visit our About AAC page. If you wish to explore additional treatment options or connect with a specific rehab center, you can browse top-rated listings or visit SAMHSA.